The 43-year-old Democrat said she is trying to petition onto the special election ballot to make sure there is a Democratic candidate to vote for if a majority of voters decide to recall Giron in that election.

“I’m telling voters to vote against recall,” Negrete-Winn said Thursday after receiving her candidate petitions from the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. “But I also want to make sure there is a Democrat on the ballot as an alternative (to Republican George Rivera).”

Negrete-Winn has only until Monday afternoon to collect the signatures of 1,000 registered Democratic voters in Giron’s district and turn them into the state office.

That’s a daunting challenge.

Rivera has been collecting his 1,000 Republican signatures for weeks and predicts he’ll have more than enough when he turns in his petitions today.

The way the recall ballot will work is District 3 voters will be asked whether Giron should be recalled. That’s her only mention on the ballot. If a majority votes no, the recall effort dies.

If a majority votes yes, then the votes given to replacement candidates on the ballot are counted. Currently, only Rivera has been working toward being on the ballot. And he could win the Senate seat with just a handful of votes if he is the alternate candidate with the most votes.

That’s why Negrete-Winn said a Democrat also should be on that list.

She is a service coordinator at Colorado Bluesky Enterprises and moved here seven years ago.

Giron wasn’t offended by Negrete-Winn’s effort to get on the ballot Thursday. She called Negrete-Winn a supporter and said she understood the strategy of having a second Democrat on the ballot.